Tag:

abandoned

Two Guns, AZ

by Kaylah Stroup December 19, 2018

Two Guns ruins

Just over six months ago I got married on top of the building shown above. *cue tears* There couldn’t be a more perfect way for Jeff and I celebrate six months of marriage than to visit our favorite spots in the desert and, most importantly, the one we tied the knot at.

A brief history – since the beginning of our relationship Jeff and I have been making annual trips to the desert. Our very first trip was super soon after we started dating and we both consider it to be a major piece of our story and credit it for us falling in love. Although we definitely had a big fight that trip, we learned that we traveled well together. (Long story short on that fight, I got a migraine but refused to admit I didn’t feel well and ended up being a big butthead.) Also on that epic roadtrip back in 2014, we discovered Two Guns!

It was right on the way to where we were heading except we were majorly crunched for time. We had reservations and had to check into our hotel before the front office closed for the night. But Two Guns!!!! It looked amazing. We had to stop, there was no two ways about it. Jeff and I agreed we’d only spend ten minutes there so we both got out of the car and literally ran from building to building snapping photos like crazy. The ten minutes were up in no time at all. We got back to the car gasping for breath and full of adrenaline. My pictures weren’t that great but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories from that whole trip.

We obviously had no idea that four years later we’d be back in the same spot with our closest friends and family exchanging vows.

On our anniversary trip, just a few weeks back, we spent the night at Twin Arrows Casino (the same hotel we also stayed at the night before our wedding) and woke up bright and early to catch Two Guns right at sunrise. To be fair, we were still on Ohio time and woke up far before the sun started to make its appearance. We lazily watched a movie and a half in the big cozy hotel bed before heading out into the desert. I was convinced it’ll still be too dark to explore but as soon as we parked the car at Two Guns we were greeted with the most beautiful golden sunshine.

It was incredible.

Our first few visits to Two Guns we mostly concentrated on the abandoned buildings nearest to the highway. We actually didn’t even realize there were ruins out further on that first visit. Now, those ruins are my favorite. Although we got married on top of one of the buildings out furthest, I had never really had the chance to photograph the area. I was little preoccupied on the last time I was there.

We had the whole place to ourselves, as is always the case. We wandered around, poked in structures we hadn’t been in before, and took a handful of photos together that I’ll treasure forever. It was a little bit weird being there without everyone else but it was so much fun to reminisce.

Two Guns, Arizona ghost town of Two Guns, Arizona

Visiting Two Guns for the fourth time was super special. I find something new to love about this place after each visit. It really is just a bunch of old ruins in the middle of the desert but it’s such a huge piece of our history together.

I’m half worried it’ll just continue to decay and soon become even less recognizable. The ruins were graffiti free on our last visit, now they’re starting to be covered in tags. I’m also partially worried that someone will purchase the land and make it somewhere we can’t continue to visit every few years. (Although, I would hope after being married there I’ve kind of been grandfathered in and can visit anytime if I just show off our wedding photos. Hehe!)

A few related posts –
Two Guns + The Apache Death Cave
That time I got married in a ghost town (the wedding post!)
Twin Arrows + Two Guns
Six month anniversary!

Until next time, Two Guns!
xoxo

the little things

by Kaylah Stroup December 18, 2018

Sometimes you wake up at 5:15 AM, far before the winter sun rises, just so you can poke around abandoned buildings an hour away from home with your pals.

Maybe you don’t stay long because hunters are nearby and you don’t want to accidently get shot or because it’s a small town and you can tell people are watching.

But it’s worth it, even when you spend more time in the car than out taking photos.

Check out more posts about abandoned places here & if you’re still not satisfied – check out my husband’s book, Abandoned Cleveland. 😉

abandoned in the desert 2018

by Kaylah Stroup August 21, 2018

These are the very last photos from our wedding trip. I’m so sad to have finally gotten through them all. I mean, I know it was all the way back in the beginning of June but I liked knowing that I still had photos left to sort through. After each trip to the desert, I end up having an assortment of photos from the abandoned places we stopped at along the way. Each year I save all these random photos until last and end up writing a post about how much I enjoy desert abandonment, how much these trips mean to me, etc. Perhaps it’s a bit redundant but y’all, I like to talk about it. (2014, 2015, 2016 + 2017)

Obviously, this year’s post is a little more special than normal. Not only did we get married on this trip but my parents were there with us at all of these places. After officially deciding that we’d get married in Arizona, one of the things I was most excited about was getting my parents back out west. My mom loves the scenery and my dad loves poking around all the abandoned houses. Roadtripping around with four people was definitely more difficult than it just being the two of us but I feel so thankful that we had the opportunity to experience this with them. I don’t feel like crying, it’s too early for that, so I’ll just say holy cow, I love my family.

abandoned motel in New Mexico

by Kaylah Stroup August 9, 2018

Desert West Motel, abandoned, swimming pool

Cruising down the highway shortly after entering New Mexico, Jeff and I spotted this abandoned motel at the exact same moment. We gave each other the look and quickly agreed that even if we couldn’t get inside it’d make for some cool exterior shots. Despite having just stopped an exit or two earlier to check out a cemetery, we were ready to stretch our legs again.

As it would turn out, the Desert West Motel was wide open and a prime spot to spend some time wandering around. Jeff, my dad, and I all had a blast here wandering around the property. Dipping into rooms to check out it’s contents. Stacks of mattresses, garbage bags full of trash, and tumbleweeds filled the majority of them.

Seems as though while in operation it wasn’t that great of a place. One and two star reviews are almost all there is to be found. Pool was closed, resturant was closed, no hot water, broken furniture – all things repeated in each. The last review dating back to 2013. Most do mention the one positive – ‘no bugs!’

Spots like this are my favorite. Abandonment in the desert is so much different than here in Ohio. Wish we could explore spots like this more often. They always seem to be worth a stop.
xoxo

Twin Arrows + Two Guns

by Kaylah Stroup July 17, 2018

I have a lot of photos from our most recent trip out west that I want to share. A lot of pictures that I’m really, really excited to show off! Despite covering ground we’d driven just a few years prior, we still managed to make lots of new stops. That being said, aside from our actual wedding photos, these might be some of my favorites. Not because they’re well composed or of wildly interesting subjects but because they’re really special.

I think I end up writing one of these posts after each road trip; where I just go on and on about how much I love traveling with Jeff, how it means the world to me, and how there’s nothing else I’d rather do despite the fact it’s not always perfect. This post from 2017 is a prime example. Well, Surprise! I’m here writing another one.

The day before the wedding, instead of a traditional rehearsal, we opted to just show off two of our favorite desert spots to our family. First stop, Twin Arrows. This was mine and Jeff’s third visit to the abandoned gas station, trading post, and diner since 2014. It’s going down hill quick but still remains one of those spots that just makes me fall in love with the desert all over again every single time. It’s also the inspiration behind the two arrows on the enamel pins we had made for our wedding.

After wandering around for a while, finding a snake, and coming up empty handed in the hunt for a geocache we moved on to the most important location of the trip. Just around ten miles away lies one of my favorite places in the world, Two Guns.

A little bit backstory here, we discovered Two Guns back in 2014 on our first trip our west. It was right on the way to where we were heading except we were majorly crunched for time. We had reservations and had to check into our wigwam before the front office closed for the night. But Two Guns!!!! It looked amazing. We had to stop, there was no two ways about it. Jeff and I agreed we’d only spend ten minutes there so we both got out of the car and literally ran from building to building snapping photos like crazy. The ten minutes was up in no time at all. We got back to the car gasping for breath and full of adrenaline. My pictures weren’t that great but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories from that whole trip. We visited again in 2016.

After we finally made concrete plans to get married there I could not wait to be there with everyone. The thought of showing it off to our loved ones was enough to make me all teary eyed. I can’t quite explain why but it’s such a special place to both of us. I’ve never been more excited to share something with someone than I was to share Two Guns with them. Even looking back now, I can’t believe that we actually managed to pull it all together.

For a brief moment before leaving for this trip, I contemplated not bringing along my camera. I figured I’d just be so busy I wouldn’t really have time to shoot much of anything. There were definitely a couple days where my camera didn’t get much use and just hung out in a bag that made my back really sweaty but I am so thankful to have had it at our ‘rehersal’. The photos from this day make my heart feel so full.

Two Guns ruins at Two Guns ghost town View from the top of the crumbling building we chose to exchange vows on.

Although the ruins aren’t what comes to mind when I think ‘Two Guns’, they were always my first choice when it came to ceremony location. They don’t have as much graffiti on them, and I really didn’t want any poorly drawn genitalia in my wedding photos. Before this trip, Jeff and I had actually never wandered out this far on the property. I had seen some photos of the building we ended up choosing online and even made a comment about how great the staircase was but didn’t truly consider it because I knew it was pretty far away from the road. When we actually approached that building with the staircase though, collectively the whole family was like ‘Is this the one?!’, ‘Can it be here?’ We found a heart shaped rock, and some random people showed up with puppies so obviously it felt right.

Picking the exact location the day prior was a really special moment and one of my favorite memories from the whole trip. I was definitely stressed and sweaty but I’d do it over and over again in a heartbeat! Not sure what else I could write that wouldn’t just be me repeating myself about how wonderful it was to be there with everyone. The whole trip just feels like a dream. I was so anxious about our very offbeat plans but dude, we nailed it.

Climbing down into the Apache Death Cave.

Apache Death Cave

Our loved ones in the cave! How was this real life!?!

that time I got married in a ghost town…

by Kaylah Stroup June 25, 2018

Two Guns Wedding, ghost town wedding

I don’t even know how to start this post. There’s so much to say about our wedding and honestly, so much I just want to keep private. I’m straddling this weird line between sharing something I’m proud of and excited about and keeping it all to myself because it really is so special. Either way, this is going to be a long, photo heavy post and I’m sure as soon as I hit “publish” I’ll think of a thousand other things I wanted to mention but here we go…

Jeff and I live to travel. It’s such a huge part of our relationship. Neither of us care for traditional weddings so it was a no-brainer we’d have a destination wedding. Based on our travel history and the fact we’ve made it an annual tradition to go there, the desert was also a no-brainer. We’ve spent the most time in Arizona, California and New Mexico but aside from Cisco, UT where he proposed there was only one other spot that we loved as fiercely – Two Guns, Arizona. I had always half-jokingly suggested we should get married there but never really thought it could actually happen or put too much thought into what the logistics of that would look like.

Shortly after proposing Jeff mentioned “So, I was thinking Two Guns?” I was too emotional to talk about it but I couldn’t believe he was actually suggesting it. I finally stopped crying for long enough to have a conversation where we decided that yes, Two Guns would be the perfect spot to get married but before we officially made the call we wanted to make sure our families were down to travel. I was worried that it would be asking too much. Much to my surprise, everyone was totally on board. Not a moment of hesitation from either side.

Seven months later a grand total of thirty people, including Jeff, myself and our photographer, made our way out to Arizona. Each group took their own route, came in on different days, and did a variety of different things leading up to the wedding but all eventually met up at one of our favorite places in the world, Two Guns!

Two Guns is a ghost town outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. It has a long, kind of wild history but currently just sits baking in the desert sun. The property contains many ruins, including old cottages, a campground, a service station and even a zoo! Can’t forget to mention the cave either. (Heck yes we got photos in the cave!) Truly a playground for Rt. 66 travelers!

It’s actually for sale! If anyone would like to give it to us as a wedding gift, that’d be rad.

Like a lot of the abandonment in the desert, it’s not really a big deal to visit. There are no fences to hop to access the property, and it’s literally right off a highway exit. We figured we’d just show up, get married and leave after we were done. We had no plans to decorate. It’s seriously perfect as is! Since the ceremony was going to be super short we didn’t even bother with chairs. We did however end up choosing a spot with lots of objects to sit and lean on which worked out very nicely. It was essentially a wedding flash mob.

One of my brothers officiated the ceremony. He got ordained just for us, and spent a good deal of time practicing by marrying my niece’s stuffed animals because he was so nervous (mostly just because he didn’t want to cry!) So sweet.

On June 9th, 2018 at 9 am Jeff and I got married on top of an old crumbling building in the ghost town of Two Guns, Arizona.

It was nothing short of incredible. I spent so much time stressing about everything from the dress to if we should decorate or not but it was legitimately perfect. I can’t think of a single thing I’d change. It was so perfectly ~us~. We’re both just over the moon.

I will not say this is my favorite photo because I could never choose but you guys, I am LIVING for how fierce I look up there. Was I just married or am I ready to go into battle?

All photos in this post are by Madeline Barr. Finding the right photographer was the biggest task in planning this wedding. Jeff and I were both really stressed about it. I cannot express how happy I am that we hired Maddie! She is a blast to be around, made us both feel super comfortable in front of the camera, and gave us the wedding photos of our dreams. I seriously can’t believe these are photos of us! I’m already plotting what excuse we can make to fly out to San Diego and have her photograph us again. She’s amazing, hire her!

more details
dress + topper –BHLDN
pink underskirt – Amazon
shoes – Palladium Boots
flowers – Sutcliffe Floral
pants + vest – Express

Most of these photos were just part of the preview that our wonderful photographer sent over the night of the wedding (what!?) and somehow she’s already finished up the rest of the photos. I’ve pored over them so many times. I’m completely obsessed!!!

At this time I’m not sure if I’ll be sharing many more photos. The day before the ceremony Jeff and I were sitting at a cute little coffee shop and we started talking about how the whole idea of a wedding was super weird. It’s such a personal thing. Even though we had only invited the closest people to us, it still felt like too much. Looking back on it now, I love what we did and I’m happy everyone who was there was there but I can’t even imagine how we would have been able to deal with a bigger or more traditional wedding.

When we went through all the photos Maddie had sent us, I felt that same way again – just like this is SO personal, how could I ever share these with someone else?! I want to hoard them away for just us. Does that make sense? Did anyone else feel like this? I never thought that I would and maybe I’ll end up feeling more comfortable about it all after it’s not so fresh. For now, I’m happy just sharing these.
xoxo

abandoned industrial complex

by Kaylah Stroup May 1, 2018

abandoned kitchen

Every time I think there’s nothing new to explore in this city we end up finding something wonderful. Most recently – this place!

My history with this building complex began around the time I moved to Cleveland. We were doing a lot of exploring, getting out nearly every weekend to take photos. This place was a suggestion from a friend but on the morning we showed up there was what appeared to be a realtor showing off the property. Obviously having anyone on the property while we wanted to explore would have caused us to stop and rethink our plans but a realtor, to me at least, meant that the buildings were in good enough shape to be sold and probably weren’t exactly as abandoned as we expected.

Four-ish year pass and I randomly thought of this place when brainstorming what we could do the following weekend. After scoping it out, we were positive it’d be doable.

Based on the decay, I’m going to assume it was in pretty rough shape four years ago as well but who knows! Whatever the case, I’m happy to finally have it under my belt. It easily ranks among my favorites for a handful of reasons. One huge one being that it was FULL of stuff. Empty abandoned buildings are fine and dandy but stuff left behind really makes a building for me. There were stacks of chairs, hundreds of bottle caps, miscellaneous household items, boxes upon boxes of files, and so much more.

flag in an abandoned building

It’s always exciting to get to explore something new, especially when no one in the group has been there before. The first building we entered wasn’t terribly interesting but things quickly started to look up after we popped into the second building. It was like every door we entered, and every corner we rounded had something that made at least one of us say “Oh my gosh!” (Usually me because I’m super easily amused…)

If I had shot more photos, I could have easily broken this down into multiple posts and no one would have ever guessed it was all the same place. Every section was so different from the last.

#theresalwaysachair

Before we had pulled away I was already saying ‘I’m ready to go back!’ There was just so much to see. It was hard to try to photograph it as well as I wanted while still also checking the place out for the very first time. Hopefully it won’t be another four years before we head back.
xoxo

If you haven’t gotten your fill of dilapidated buildings – check out the tag “abandoned” for more posts!

abandoned around Cleveland

by Kaylah Stroup April 9, 2018

Just some recent photos from abandoned buildings around the Cleveland area…

Sometimes we visit really rad places but I just don’t feel like taking the time to set up my tripod, or maybe I’m just too busy being nervous about the neighborhood to take the time to find that perfect shot and don’t end up getting more than a couple shots per location. This post includes photos from four different spots we checked out recently. Two new to me – a church and a very old school. Two old favorites we seem to visit over and over – both factories.

If you haven’t gotten your fill of dilapidated buildings – check out the tag “abandoned” for more posts!

abandoned factory – revisited

by Kaylah Stroup March 26, 2018

abandoned ohio, cleveland

I guess the theme of the abandoned buildings I’ve been sharing on the blog this last month, like the factory full of trash & the masonic hall, is that I’ve been there before. 2014 was the year I moved to Cleveland, and the year I really got in to photographing abandoned buildings. I had always had an interest but didn’t know where to begin, and being afraid of the city didn’t help much either. Then I met Jeff…

The photos I have from back then are laughably bad but I do remember how excited I was about them. Also, being able to look back at how these buildings have (or haven’t) changed since my last visit is pretty awesome.

Most of the photos in this post are in a different section of the factory than the previous post but I still managed to (accidentally) shoot two photos that are essentially the same view. Things have definitely been moved around a bit but I’d say for four years, it looks shockingly similar! That basically never happens. Guess somehow this building has basically flown under the radar of most folks.

If you haven’t gotten your fill of dilapidated buildings – check out the tag “abandoned” for more posts!

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